Flocking the Elements
by Shanghai's and Lullabies
Summary: Please excuse the weird/lame title. Anyways this is within the 4th book. Max and the whole flock- as they are- poking around near the Southern Water Tribe. No prominent couples...yet. Developing story.
1. The Otter-Penguin

***Just wanted to say I start about halfway through the 4****th**** book, with an altered chapter 42 to be exact, page 142 or something in the hardcover. Everything in the first 3 books is in their lives, as is all of whatever's in the 4thbook up to that part- minus the Uber-director and everything concerning him. His character, his business, his employees and entire story, none of that will ever be brought up in my fic, he doesn't exist here.**

~Feel free to skip the following paragraph if you're good with out the "I own nothing" spiel. It's a drama-filled world out there and we are all just doing our best not to get sued in it.

Maximum Ride, and all associated characters are from author James Patterson and a series of books he's written concerning them. Avatar: The Last Airbender is A television series of I am merely a fan, was created by: Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Sources: IMDb

Brief Note:

I picked up my first Maximum Ride book back in '07-'08. (Middle school) I. loved. (LOVED) This. series. Favorite books in the whole world, Numero uno on all my charts! Now, I don't know If it's just me, because I got older, or James, because he's getting older but they are just not doing it for me anymore. *sigh* I just wanted you guys to know that I am A true fan, I like James Patterson, and I like Max. I have read all of the Maximum Ride books (some more than once) excluding _Nevermore. _Unfortunately, by the time that came out I had stopped caring. [It was very sad. I used to want to be her best friend now she just sounds very whiny and irritating. I don't know, It's probably just me but still.] I mean if you think it was good and worth the read feel free to comment about it and I might consider picking it up in the future; In the meantime, my fanfic: The main hill I had to get over was where to start. I wanted to remain very, very true to the books and the characters even though with all the messiness between Max, and Fang, and these mad scientists and Dylan- It just made the last, like, two books very painful, like I was forcing my self to read and enjoy them, much less re-read. But still- where to begin? Do I begin in the beginning of _Angel _and instead of Jeb and Dr. Gub-Hub trying to get Max laid, they bring news of a generation called "Benders"? Or do I go a little further back and start at the beginning of _Fang _where, instead of flying directly to sunny old Chad, they stumble across an Earthbending village? Why not go back to the end of book three and have Max find the boys with some company on that cozy little island of the coast of North Carolina. Ultimately I didn't want to go back too far, I'm not trying to rewrite them as my own characters or anything or just erase ALL of their history. I finally decided that _The Final Warning _was really as far back as I was willing to go and I hope you enjoy the cross-over.

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Now, someone who doesn't know better might think that playing with penguins wouldn't really do a lot to prevent the apocalypse, but hey, we were just there to help. Where you ask? Well thanks to the lovely Dr. Martinez, also known as _my Mom, _my flock and I were as far south on the globe as you could possibly go, land of the cold, white, cold, icy, freezing _cold_ tundra. Welcome to Antarctica! Did I mention how freaking cold it was?

"Look at this! I'm a penguin!" Angel yelled, flinging herself onto her stomach and sliding down a steep, hard-packed snow slope. She raced incredibly fast towards the bottom where about twenty emperor penguins waited for her flapping their wings.

"Me next!" shouted Gazzy (also known as the Gasman, for reasons I wont go into here). With the foresight of a true 8-year old, he didn't wait for Angel to get out the way, he just threw himself down the slope, cackling maniacally. He collided with her, of course, causing her to skid into a few penguins who, frankly, should have been paying more attention. Two of the big heavy birds went down, one right on top of Gazzy. It was impressive, I heard his breath whoosh out from where I was standing taking scientific notes. These penguins were hefty little suckers.

"How's it going?" Brian Carey- the dive specialist -asked, snowshoeing up to us. He and Sue-Ann (the ice specialist- what ever that meant.) who was with him, both had clipboards and special pens that wrote in extreme weather. Like, say, extreme cold for instance. Thanks again Mom!

"They're so cute, aren't they?" Sue-Ann gushed as she reached down to pet one of the fuzzums little chickums.

"Adorable." I agreed scanning the whiteness again out of habit.

Nudge and Iggy were hunched over something at the ocean's edge. I sighed hoping I wouldn't end up being the one to have to tell Nudge she couldn't keep one of these as a pet. Just then Iggy stood up cradling something as he followed Nudge over to me. I stepped off to the side, flashing a quick glance at Brian and Sue-Ann who were busy laughing and watching Gazzy and Angel.

"What's up?" I asked carefully eyeing the fuzzy looking penguin that Iggy was carrying.

"Max, we were just playing with the baby penguins by the water, and then this one jumps out and it looks kind of hurt, but then Iggy realized it was different and I don't know if it's supposed to be like that, and I know there is different kinds and different species but we didn't know for sure and- "

"Nudge." I said touching her shoulder. I was about to ask her to take it from the top, _slowly _this time, but then I saw it. This penguin was-

"Geezum, Are they supposed to have four of those?" This penguin had two wings on each side. Well, not _wings, _wings but still. Yeah, I guess I'm a little bird-ist. It had a gash on one of it's flipper-wings. It wriggled around a little and Iggy was doing his best to keep it from falling down to the ice.

Sue-Ann walked over to check out the commotion, all smiles of course, until she saw the animal and the what-exactly-is-going-on-here look I was giving her.

She rushed over and lightly touched the penguin. "Brian!" she called back. Then turning back to us she said "Where did you find this?" in the most serious tone I've heard this entire trip.

"It jumped out of the _water_." Iggy said

"A better question might be, what is this exactly?" I cut in, matching her no-nonsense tone. "Or how about, what are you guys _really _doing down here?"

Brian caught up with us and had much of the same initial reaction as Sue-Ann running a hand through his floppy brown hair. They exchanged a look and I was getting madder by the second. Still no answers.

Finally, Nudge said "Are you guys experimenting on penguins?" sounding like a weenie human kid being told Santa Claus isn't real. I'd give her a sympathetic hug later. Right now I was waiting for an explanation.

Sue-Ann gave her a weak smile and shook her head. "No sweetie, of course not!" she handed Brian her clipboard then stepped towards Iggy and held out her arm's, lightly brushing his hand. "May I?"

He hesitated a moment but then held it out to her and she cradled it, Inspecting the damage. "It's not what you'd think."

Brian touched her arm and looked at her, eye to eye for a moment. "Sue." He whispered. She just gave him that same weak smile and then shrugged turning to look at all of us.

"I guess we're just going to have to trust them to keep our secret Bri." She winked at me "I think they can handle it."

I started to open my mouth to ask what the hell they were talking about and why she thought winking at me like we were in some cheesy BFF sleepover movie was okay but Brian cut me off.

"Guys, why don't we head back to the base and see if we can help this little guy out, huh?"

"And I promise I'll tell you everything." Sue-Ann said turning to Nudge but sparing a glance at me.

I looked up and saw Angel was already looking our way. _"Pack it in guys."_ I thought at her, knowing she could hear me. _"We're heading back- playtime is over."_

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I'll try and update this with a new ch. each week, so keep coming back :) Reviews are accepted


	2. Bending

"Emily- Is that you?" A voice rang out as soon as we stepped inside the little boat. I smelled grilled fish and realized I was hungry again- of course- we all probably were but that was going to have to wait.

I followed Brian and Sue-Ann to the 15 foot room where we all first met, and stood with my arms crossed as Brian set the injured animal down on the table and produced a med kit.

A quick glance to my sides showed Angel, Nudge and Gazzy mimicking my pose. My poker face intact, I was beaming on the inside- my little troopers. I knew how much it would hurt for them to come all this way only to be surrounded by- Surprise! –more evil scientists. But what else was new? Iggy's arms were crossed as well, out of habit and Fang was leaning up against a wall. We made eye contact and shared the mutual feeling weary-ness. This was actually getting exhausting.

We heard footsteps coming around the corner. "Hey Em, I need you to… " Melanie Bone trailed off as she stepped into the room. Taking in the entire scene- table and all- she looked at us in all our ferocity with the same way one might regard some snarling kittens. So either we had softened up in the past few weeks with Mom or we were not the single most fascinating-slash-frightening thing she had ever seen.

Both were possible. Nether I would ever care to admit to.

Brian ignored her and continued to work but Sue-Ann was staring at Melanie with a look I couldn't quite place. Melanie just looked at me with amusement.

"So, what do you think?" She asked leaning against the door frame, taking a bite of her fish sandwich.

"About your acting?" I asked, wide-eyed. "I'd give you a 9/10, really good job, I mean- I had no idea that you guys were crazy scientists at all- seriously! Oh but your outfit could use some work, the white doesn't do you justice at all, maybe next time you should request like, a metallic purple."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Cute. But what's with this evil scientist stuff? I really don't think fire is that-"

"Melanie! Would you mind your own business! I haven't had the chance to explain anything to them yet!" Sue-Ann griped

Melanie scoffed "Please, don't think just cause you dragged me down to this wasteland that gives you the right to start barking orders at me."

I sighed at this pointless waste of time. I could have their butts kicked and be somewhere near a beach in Peru by now.

"Um, hello?" I cut in. "Yeah guys, so I'm thinking maybe one of you actually tell us what is going on here. And like, _soon_." I made a tapping motion with my fingers.

Sue-Ann was starring daggers into Melanie and there was silence.

"The animal Iggy found is called an Otter Penguin." Brian offered as he stood up, apparently finished with his nursing job. "There's a whole colony of them a couple miles east from here… and no we didn't make them."

"Well where did they come from?" I asked still highly unconvinced.

"From the earth." Both women said at the same time and then glared at each other

"What, like, worms?" Nudge asked bringing one hand up to twirl a curl of her hair, cocking her head. "Or like beans or something? I read this thing about radiation and-"

"Nudge." I said, shaking my head, giving her the 'Not-now' look.

"Where is the Southern Water Tribe? What is that?" Angel asked. Sue-Ann seemed to have forgotten about the whole mind reading thing but quickly recovered.

"Um, That's where my family's. It's a couple miles away from here." She gave me a light smile that I did not return. "You see- where I come from, Lots of things are born…special."

"And by that you mean…?" I was still waiting for the punchline. One that Melanie was all too eager to deliver.

"She means _this _birdbrain" Melanie had sat her plate on the table and as I turned to look at her both her palms were held out. Oh and, did I mention she was freaking _holding fire?_ And I'm not saying like holding a match or a giant pot with stuff burning on the inside, she was actually, impossibly, holding fire. But then of course nothing is really impossible is it?

"What's going on?" Iggy asked frowning.

Melanie was smirking at me through the flames.

"Dude, she's making fire! With her hands!" the Gasman informed him excitedly

Iggy turned his head in my direction. "So?"

"No, man!" Gazzy shook his head eyes wide as ever. "Like out of thin air, she can make it _appear_!"

Melanie dropped her hands and the fire went away. Sue-Ann was glaring at Melanie, but she ignored her.

"Cool!" Nudge exclaimed excitedly. "Are you guys mutants like us?

"Ah, no I was born with this." Melanie explained placing her hand on her hips

"Like the Xmen? Oh, does that mean that's a real movie and it's like a secret or something? Do you guys know Mystique? Or- "

"No, that's just a dumb movie!" Melanie exclaimed looking exasperated.

Brian chuckled setting the, um, otter-penguin on the floor.

Sue-Ann crossed her arms, frowning at Melanie.

"What my friend is trying so eloquently to say is…we're benders."


	3. Chapter 3

_ Well voice, if there's some cryptic mumbo-jumbo you'd like to give here- I'm listening! Jeb? Anyone? _

No answer. Helpful as usual. I heaved a sigh and began to knead my right temple with one hand.

"Well, I've never heard of you. And unless I missed something in the Itex files…?" I turned to raise an eyebrow at Nudge.

She tilted her head upwards for a moment, thinking, then she shook her head no.

I turned back to face Sue-Ann and Melanie. "So? Are you guys robots or something? Is this the part where others flood in and try to capture us? Because I promise you- "

"No, I don't think you understand!" Sue-Ann cut in. "We're really not… experiments. We're not really like you! We are born this way!"

"Born what? Benders? Well I'm a bender too. I can bend spines around my kneecap- no sweat. Wanna see?" I narrowed my eyes at Melanie.

Melanie smirked and crossed her arms "I think it'd be much more interesting if I gave you a chance to _really_ light up the skies, hm?"

My fingers curled into fists at my sides. "You want to know what I think?" I growled at her. I quietly smiled on the inside. This happy cozy life? I guess for a small part of me that just didn't cut it. I'd sorta secretly been itching to smash someone's skull in since Arizona.

"Max!" Fang whispered sharply. Annoyed I whirled around to face him. "What?!"

"Maybe we should hear what they have to say." He said louder with a calm tone.

_What the hell?_ I stared daggers at him. I would've thought after the…breakup, he'd be walking on eggshells for a while since, I mean technically it _was_ his fault- _he's_ the one that over-reacted, _he's_ the one that tried to leave.

"Now is not really the time for you to be trying out for that Humanitarian award." I spat at him in an angry whisper.

"Max, I'm just saying that it's possible they are telling the truth." Fang suggested with that infuriatingly clam tone.

"About what? Being just magically born with abilities to control nature?" My voice was no longer a whisper but I made a note to self to pat myself on the back later for not sounding like a screaming lunatic. Really, my self-control is remarkable. Well, for me anyways.

Fang looked over at Sue-Ann, "Back at… a place, we were told to believe months of our life ha never actually happened, that they were only in our heads, even though they felt real." He explained "And then of course, it turned out they were lying but even then, what they had told us almost seemed real." I subconsciously ran my fingers over the scar on my wrist.

"And you want to know if their childhood memories are actually real?" Brian caught on understandingly. Fang nodded his head.

"Well, that's an easy enough fix!" He said cheerfully letting out a chuckle. Men and their emotions are something I will never understand. "What do you say Susy, is about time for a family visit?"

Melanie raised an eyebrow at Brian. Sue-Ann stayed silent and looked to be weighing the outcomes.

Brian placed a hand on her shoulder waited till she looked up at him. "I know how you feel about going back, and about your sister but, this day had to come sooner or later. Look at our options. It's only fair to them and it seems to be our only option."

Everyone stayed silent for a moment. Then Sue-Ann sighed and shook off Brian's hand. "Fine. We leave tomorrow." She said picking up the otter penguin as she rushed out the room.

Brian looked at Melanie. Melanie, arms still crossed, rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, fine, I'll go get Paul." Then she left.

"Um, So, what just happened?" Iggy asked.

Brian "Well, were going to go on a slight detour for a couple days. Look at as... a field trip!"

"A Field Trip?" Nudge asked trying- and failing- to hide her excitement.

"Yes," Brian continued "To the Southern Water Tribe. It's sort of like Sue Ann's hometown. It will give you a chance to maybe explore some of the culture surrounding her world."

I looked at Fang, still slightly irritated at his sudden outburst of well- leadership. Which is my job. And one that I've been doing a pretty decent job of, looking at the end results, if you ask me. Let's make a quick list shall we?

Max's decisions:

-Got Angel back

-Kept the kids safe

-Found coolest Mom in the world.

Fang's decisions:

-Split the flock up

-Placed all our private information in the hands of _anyone with a laptop._

-Got us the neediest freaking _talking_ dog the world has ever seen.

So forgive me if I don't bow down and curtsey aside every time he decides to hop off that moody, self-absorbed train of his and join the rest of us.

But sometimes, he was right.

"How long is it gonna take to get there?" There had better be some good food there too.


End file.
